JOHN F. FLOYD: FBI had sufficient warning to stop Florida shooting

By John F. FloydSpecial to The Times

Thursday

Feb 22, 2018 at 9:39 AMFeb 22, 2018 at 9:39 AM

Is this the new normal? Can we, as Americans, expect more and more mass executions like what just occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida? What is driving mass murderers who get satisfaction from all the mayhem, loss of life and personal grief caused by their actions? The real answer is “no one knows.”

Too often, we see the headlines “Breaking News,” and we hear and see the trauma that has been perpetrated on innocent Americans by some deranged individual. In this latest attack, the individual was Nikolas Cruz, 19, who killed 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High.

Cruz has already confessed and is now in the plea-bargaining phase of the investigation. After taking 17 lives, he is trying desperately to save his own miserable life.

There have been segments of our society who claim that guns, and the lenient acquisition of guns, are the major problem with outbursts of violence in the United States. Others are just as vocal on the opposite side, insisting that guns prevent violence or minimize potential results. I come down on both sides.

The anti-gun side has many excellent points. There should be extensive background checks, including psychological tests, before anyone can buy a weapon of any type. If there had been a federal requirement to check Cruz’s background from a psychological standpoint, he would never have legally owned the weapon.

Many other anti-gun proposals make sense and should be considered by the federal government. However, no law will prevent a deranged criminal from carrying out atrocities such as what occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

This recent massacre of young innocent lives should never have happened, however, because the Federal Bureau of Investigation had sufficient warning that Nikolas Cruz was at the point of carrying out a school shooting.

The FBI was warned on Jan. 5 that Cruz had an arsenal of weapons and was exhibiting disturbing behavior. In addition, he had posted on social media that “I’m going to be a school shooter.”

The FBI has said to the general public, “See something, say something.” Well, people said something and the FBI did nothing. Its response, or lack of response, borders on criminal. There has been much written about the lack of executive leadership at the FBI, but the American public was assured the agents at the street level were competent and professional.

The FBI’s actions in the Cruz case causes me to doubt its professionalism and credibility. If I, as a layman in law enforcement, had heard that someone considered himself a school shooter, I would have moved heaven and earth to find the person who made those comments, especially after the circumstances at Columbine and other school shootings.

The FBI executive who was responsible for the agents who ended their investigation of Cruz’s comments with just a shrug of their shoulders should be held accountable and fired. The agency is indirectly responsible for the deaths of 17 people in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. It pains me to make that statement, because FBI agents have always been my heroes.

FBI Director Christopher Wray tried to cover the intransigence of his agents by saying the agency received 2,101 calls to the tip line every day. Surely the tip line can separate the trivial many from the vital few. Aren’t the operators of the tip lines trained to do just that?

Wray said the bureau was still reviewing its missteps on the January tip. A review shouldn’t take too long because it was pure and simple incompetence on the part of the FBI.

The sad result of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting is this: Nothing will change. Politicians will yell and scream, but yield to their incompetence. Schools are doing all they can under the circumstances. Amid this chaos, parents are terrified for the safety of their children. This is a complicated legal/societal dilemma that has no one answer.

John F. Floyd is a Gadsden native who graduated from Gadsden High School in 1954. He formerly was director of United Kingdom manufacturing, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., vice president of manufacturing and international operations, General Tire & Rubber Co., and director of manufacturing, Chrysler Corp. He can be reached at johnfloyd538@gmail.com. The opinions reflected are his own.

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